Perseus.
Perseus · Greek hero
The hero who slew the Gorgon Medusa and rescued Andromeda from the sea-monster.
Demigod son of Zeus by Danaë. Slayer of Medusa and rescuer of Andromeda. Placed among the stars as the constellation Perseus.
Perseus · Perseus · Greek hero
Demigod son of Zeus by Danaë. Slayer of Medusa and rescuer of Andromeda. Placed among the stars as the constellation Perseus.
Acrisius, king of Argos, had been told by an oracle that his daughter Danaë's son would kill him. He sealed her in a bronze chamber, but Zeus came to her as a shower of gold and Perseus was conceived. Mother and child were cast into the sea in a wooden chest; they washed up on Seriphos, where the king Polydectes raised the boy in secret hatred.
Polydectes, scheming to be rid of him, demanded the head of the Gorgon Medusa as a wedding gift. With Athena's polished shield, Hermes's winged sandals, and Hades's helm of invisibility, Perseus flew to the Gorgons' island in the far west. He approached Medusa using the shield as a mirror — looking directly at her would have turned him to stone — and struck off her head while she slept. From the wound sprang the winged horse Pegasus.
"Looking only at her reflection in his polished shield, Perseus struck off the Gorgon's head, and from the wound sprang the winged horse Pegasus."
Returning home, Perseus saw Andromeda chained to a sea-cliff as sacrifice to a sea-monster sent by Poseidon. He slew the beast, rescued the princess, and married her. After his long career as a hero — including the accidental fulfilment of the oracle, when a discus throw killed his grandfather Acrisius — Athena placed Perseus among the stars, where Andromeda and her parents Cassiopeia and Cepheus stand around him in the autumn sky.
Where this comes from.
Mythology
- Apollodorus Bibliotheca 2.4.1–2.4.5
- Ovid Metamorphoses 4.604–5.249
- Hyginus Astronomica 2.12
Paintings & illustrations
- Perseus with the Head of Medusa — Benvenuto Cellini (1545–1554) · Wikimedia · PD
- Medusa — Caravaggio (1597) · Wikimedia · PD
- Perseus Freeing Andromeda — Piero di Cosimo (c. 1510–1513) · Wikimedia · PD
For fun · sources cited. We don’t publish horoscopes, personality readings, or compatibility takes — just astronomy + classical mythology, with public-domain art where available. See all 88 constellations.